Just A Chance
by loveofallthatisawesome
Summary: Jace finally found the girl he loves, but when he confesses, she ends up breaking his heart. One-shot. Rated T for a minor slip. AU/AH.


**AN: This is my first one-shot ever, and I wrote it for the fic-exchange created by the awesome Bookninja15! Check out her stories, if you haven't already, because they're amazing :D**

****Hope you guys like this!****

* * *

><p>"I love you."<p>

Shock.

All that Clary felt was complete and utter shock. She felt the blood leaving her face and the cold chill that went throughout her entire body. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but no words would come out.

Finally, she croaked the completely inappropriate word, "What?"

He bit his lower lip, no longer confident, worry etching through his features.

"I do, Clary. I love you." He stretched his hand forward towards her face and she reeled back. His arm fell to his side, his thumb and index finger rubbing against each other; a nervous habit.

_This can't be happening. Why? Why now? Why him? Why me? _She looked to the ground and shook her head frantically.

"Clary," he hesitated, trying to get her to look at him. "Are – are you saying no?" his voice cracked on the last word. "Look at me, please."

She felt his cool hand on her chin, tilting her head up. He looked at her through glossy golden eyes, the ones that always appeared playful, but were now confused and hurt. Inside she felt herself breaking. "Why do you say no?" he whispered.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to ignore the stinging in her nose and eyes. "I can't. I just can't, Jace. _You_ can't." She stepped back, distancing herself from him. "You can't love me."

"I – I have to leave," she stammered out. Knowing she couldn't bear to look at Jace anymore, she turned and began to walk away.

"Wait! Hold on, could you at least tell me why?" he pleaded, catching up to her and grabbing her shoulder.

She stiffened, but didn't turn. She didn't want to look at the angel-like boy behind her. She didn't want to see the hurt she had caused that would surely be evident on his face.

She finally found her voice after a few seconds. "We're just friends, Jace. Nothing more." She tried hard to hold the emotion back. "I'm sorry," she added. It seemed she succeeded when she felt his hand on her shoulder tense up and slowly pull away. When she was certain he would say nothing more, she left.

Walking away from Jace and the small bridge over the stream, she knew she had done the right thing. Even if she felt like crying and punching something for hurting Jace she knew that it was for the best. _I can't go through that again. Especially not with Jace. _

JACE

The last of her fiery, red hair finally disappeared down the hill and all Jace could do was remain standing where he was as though he were a statue.

He had not thought what people said about heartbreak was true, but he felt it now. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of him and all that was left was a huge hole in the middle of his chest. He realized he wasn't breathing and immediately exhaled deeply, but the empty feeling didn't leave. If anything, he'd become even more aware of it.

And she caused it.

She'd left.

Girls had rejected him before, sure, but he didn't care about them. If they didn't want him, for whatever ludicrous reason, he would leave it at that and go on to the next one. It was the way he worked. But not with Clary.

Since he'd first met her two years before, he knew she was different. Maybe it was because she was so small and didn't flaunt herself. Maybe it was that she respected herself and didn't believe she needed a boyfriend at all times.

Or maybe...maybe it was because she understood Jace. She made him laugh and smile, and not in a cruel or flirtatious way. She was real and true to herself. And he wanted her. More than anything in the world, he wanted her. But she'd said no.

The sun was slowly setting and Jace found himself walking home. Sullenly, he opened the door to his house and shut it. He plopped himself down on the sofa and just sat. _Did she not like me?_

His phone rang and rang as he received text after text and countless voice mails were left behind. He would check who they were from, but they weren't from Clary so he didn't care.

Eventually, he dozed off.

"Jace!" He felt someone shaking his arm and kicking his legs. "Jace! Wake up!" He opened his eyes and glared at the intruder. Isabelle.

"What do you want, Isabelle?" he said, stonily. "It better be good if you had the audacity to break into my house and start screaming like a maniac."

She rolled her eyes, immune to Jace's extreme attitudes. "Whatever, and your front door was unlocked so I didn't break in." She put a hand on her hip and showed him her cell phone. "Why haven't you been answering me? I've sent you at least twenty messages and called you like ten times so why haven't you answered?"

He brought his hands up and started rubbing at his eyes slowly. Isabelle was not a patient person and he wanted to piss her off even more.

"Jace! God, answer me!" she practically shrieked.

He smirked. "I doubt God is going to answer you He answers only to good people not bitches."

Isabelle gasped. "Fine, Jace. I guess you don't care about Clary, right?" His head snapped up.

"What about her?"

"Well, not that you care or anything since you can't be bothered to check your messages, but she hasn't answered my texts either and when I went to her house she wasn't there." She said in a haughty tone, but there was worry laced in. "Her parents said they haven't seen her and neither have Alec or Magnus. I just thought I'd let you know." She turned to leave, but Jace quickly stood up and blocked her from exiting.

"How long have you been looking for her?"

She fidgeted. "Well, only for an hour. _But_ she usually doesn't take this long to answer. What if she got kidnapped or something?" She gripped his arms. "She's like my sister and she always tells me everything. Not knowing where she is is freaking me out."

Instantly, he knew what had happened. Jace sighed and sat down on the couch again, putting his head in his hands. "I did something, Iz," he started. "To Clary."

He looked up to see her narrowing her eyes at him. "Did you hurt her, Jace? Did you -"

He cut her off before she could go on a rant. "Actually, I _said_ something to her." Harshly, he said, "And I would never hurt her."

"God, Jace, you probably yelled at her, right? You got in a big argument and you degraded her or something?" She sighed. 'Why do you keep doing this? You're not only hurting her, but yourself, also." Jace just looked at her in confusion.

"Do we do that a lot?" He cleared away those thoughts before he could be sidetracked. "No, that didn't happen. It was very much the opposite, actually. I told her I loved her."

Isabelle didn't make a sound, just gaped at him. She sat next to him and slowly a smile crept onto her face. "Oh my God, finally! I've been waiting for this day since forever. I knew you two were meant to be together." Her smile faded quicker than it had appeared. "Then why isn't she here with you?"

Jace groaned and leaned back. "She said we were just friends and I _couldn't_ love her. I thought she liked me, too, but apparently not. And believe it or not, Iz, it affected me way more than I thought it ever could."

After a few seconds, she spoke. "Poor Clary."

"Poor her?" Jace exclaimed, exasperated. "I'm the one who was rejected."

"Jace, you need to know something about Clary. About before you got here." Jace became very attentive. Never before had he wanted to hear Isabelle's words with as much urgency as now.

"You see, Clary had been in a relationship before you got here. She'd never really had a boyfriend, but she didn't really care about that. Then one day she was asked out by this guy, Simon. She fell for him so hard and so fast. They were inseparable. She thought she was in love and they'd be together forever." Jace felt jealous of this guy he'd never met. How could Simon have had Clary like that when Jace couldn't?

She continued. "Everything was fine between them and I was happy that Clary finally had a boyfriend. We would go on double dates and go clubbing and things like that. But then one day, after almost an entire year of dating, he broke up with her. He said that while it was fun, he didn't love her that way anymore." Her voice became hard. "He said that the days were starting to 'blur' together and that he'd started to find Clary 'boring'. She lost a lot of her energy after that, I guess. She just wasn't the same. For the first week, she didn't go to school at all. Then, when she did come back she rarely ever talked anymore. She was just going through the motions and whenever she saw him, I could almost see her eyes watering up again. I hated it."

She shook her head ruefully. "A month afterward he moved to Chicago. Then you came in and it's like she was suddenly alive again." Jace recalled the day he met her. She'd been very shy, but after only a week of one-sided conversations she finally spoke up and they'd become friends. He smiled at the memory.

"But you see, Jace, the thing is that Simon wasn't only her boyfriend. He and Clary had been best friends for five years before they started going out. When they broke up, their friendship ended, too. She thought that she'd ruined everything. And now, well you're one of her best friends. I don' t think she wants to be in a relationship with one of her friends again. I don't think she can handle it either."

She put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't react. He was still digesting what Isabelle had just told him. "Well, at least now I know why she won't answer me," she mumbled. "Sorry, Jace." She patted him once more on the shoulder and then she walked out the door.

Jace was alone again. _'She'd ruined everything.'_ She could never ruin their friendship and Jace couldn't imagine _not_ feeling how he felt for Clary ever.

CLARY

After she left Jace, she realized she didn't want to go home. She didn't want to go anywhere. She just wanted to leave, to be gone, if that made any sense. She walked around the neighborhoods, went to the mall and looked at all the happy couples, passed by the school where she had so many memories, both good and bad.

She was getting a million texts from Isabelle, but she didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to be left alone.

The soft sound of rushing water alerted her that she was back at the park. She made her way up to the bridge, where she'd last seen Jace. Her heart constricted.

She leaned on the stones and overlooked the stream. It was dark now and the moon reflected on the water.

If Jace loved her, why couldn't she say she loved him back, then? Why couldn't they be together like they both wanted? _Because_, Clary thought, _then I'll lose another person that I love. _

Simon was her best friend. She'd go to him for everything. They liked the same things and they always hung out. She always had a small crush on him and when he'd asked her out it was like a dream come true. He started to pull back, though. He didn't want to hang out with her so much. They didn't go out anymore and he didn't respond to her texts or calls. Then the day came when he told her the truth.

_We both knew this was going to happen anyway. Maybe we weren't meant to be like this, _he'd said. _Friendship was our thing, Clary, and now I don't think we can be even that. _He'd said more, but the only thing that really stuck in her head were those three sentences. They were everything together, and now they were nothing.

She couldn't have that with Jace. She didn't want to even think about losing Jace.

_But what makes you think Jace would be like Simon?_ A small voice in her head said.

"Clary?" She turned to see blonde hair and golden eyes walking toward her, hesitantly.

JACE

After not being able to fall asleep and just forgetting everything, Jace had left his house and gone to the park.

Where else would Clary be? He'd known her long enough to know that she would go somewhere to see something beautiful. He knew her favorite spot was where they'd been earlier. The bridge.

He saw her as she seemingly stared at nothing in concentration. He smiled, she was so obvious whenever she was thinking. Her delicate face shone in the moonlight and her red hair blew around her softly from the wind. She was beautiful.

It was now or never. "Clary?" he asked. She turned, surprised. He made his way to her, hoping she wouldn't leave again.

She pursed her lips. "Jace," she said simply. "What are you doing here? It's late."

He smirked. "I should be asking you the same thing. I could easily defend myself against ten muggers, but you could barely hold your own against a squirrel." She frowned, which reminded him that he wasn't here to play around. "Actually, Clary, I just came here to apologize. I shouldn't have told you what I did. We're not even going out and then I just sprung that out on you." He looked away from her stoic expression. She was usually always so full of emotion and seeing her like that reminded him of himself.

She didn't say anything so he finally said, "Come on, I'll walk you home." But she didn't move.

"I've been thinking, Jace," she said in a small voice. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

He grimaced. "I know about Simon. Isabelle told me," he added, when he noticed her confusion. "I understand now. But Clary," he said, feeling more confident. "I'm not Simon. I would never do that. I love you for who you are. I know my past experience with girls may not seem stellar to you." She frowned deeper. "But no one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel." He looked into her green eyes hoping she would understand that this was a side of him he rarely showed anyone and that he would probably never show it to anyone else ever again.

She brought her hand up suddenly and trailed her fingers down his face down to his lips. He sucked in a breath of air. She'd never been so bold, but he would be lying if he said he didn't like it. She looked up at him intensely.

He captured her hand with his own and brought it down. "Clary?" he asked, confused.

She glanced down to their now intertwined hands. "I've been thinking and you're right about Simon. I used to think that I loved him. But when he broke up with me I realized that even though it hurt to have him not love me what I was really going to miss was being friends. I don't want to lose that with you, too."

Although Jace was glad that she didn't want to lose him, it wasn't enough. "Clary. Do you like me?" he asked tentatively. Her hand tightened around his.

She looked away. "No. I don't like you." Jace let go of her hand immediately, feeling as though he'd just been slapped. She smiled shyly. "I think I love you, too."

Jace's mouth slowly spread into a smile. He didn't think it was possible for a girl as amazing as Clary would be able to truly love him, and though she denied it at first, he knew that what she said was true by the glint in her eyes.

He brought her hands up and around his neck, and then wrapped his arms around her small waist. He grinned and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Well, you're not alone in that, but you are the only one I love back."

With that Jace brought his lips closer to Clary's. The first brush was soft and cold from the night, causing Clary to tremble. He deepened the kiss, their lips moving against each other as though they were meant to be together. He pulled her closer until there wasn't an inch of space between them and the heat of their bodies radiated against them. Jace had waited so long for this. To finally have Clary and show her that he loved her. It was perfect.

They broke apart with a sigh and Jace leaned his forehead on Clary's. The kiss was short and innocent, but it was everything they'd ever dreamed of.

Smiling at each other, Jace said, "Thank you, Clary. For giving me a chance."


End file.
